Thoughts from the boss: RENE DESCARTES

by Ella Bernadette

Who would not know Rene Descartes? Whether you are a Math whiz or not, I am sure you have heard of him. But not until now I got hold of some quotes that are worth-remembering:

Cogito ergo sum (I think; therefore I am.)

The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.

Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.

The greatest minds are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues

To know what people really think, pay attention to what they do, rather than what they say.

The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts.

You just keep pushing. You just keep pushing. I made every mistake that could be made. But I just kept pushing.

I knew that the languages which one learns there are necessary to understand the works of the ancients; and that the delicacy of fiction enlivens the mind; that famous deeds of history ennoble it and, if read with understanding, aid in maturing one’s judgment; that the reading of all the great books is like conversing with the best people of earlier times; it is even studied conversation in which the authors show us only the best of their thoughts; that eloquence has incomparable powers and beauties; that poetry has enchanting delicacy and sweetness; that mathematics has very subtle processes which can serve as much to satisfy the inquiring mind as to aid all the arts and diminish man’s labor; that treatises on morals contain very useful teachings and exhortations to virtue; that theology teaches us how to go to heaven; that philosophy teaches us to talk with appearance of truth about things, and to make ourselves admired by the less learned; that law, medicine, and the other sciences bring honors and wealth to those who pursue them; and finally, that it is desirable to have examined all of them, even to the most superstitious and false in order to recognize their real worth and avoid being deceived thereby.